he reveals his good will and good liking of them and lets them know that they are accepted with him when he is their Friend and lets them have the countenance of their Friend towards them when he is their Father and causes them to feel the Bowels of their Father the Compassions and Kindnesses of their Father and hereby makes them to joy in his Love and to rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God This is Blessedness indeed these are Blessed Ones whose God is thus their Lord. Blessed are the people who are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the 〈◊〉 Ps 144.15 Christians you need not complain whatever you want if you have no bread in your houses no money in your purses no health in your Bodies no rest in your bones yet have you the Lord God in your hearts it is enough you are blessed Souls Sinners ye need not boast your selves and lift up your heads so high you have money in your purses you have friends in your houses you have health in your bodies you have marrow in your bones you can hardly tell what you lack that would please you and yet miserable souls are you all God is not in you and that to him that knows what it is is misery enough to blast all your comforts and your joys The Devil is where God is not Sin bears rule where God doth not and this is the upshot of your boasting and blessing and comforting of your selves this is all you can say matters of this World go well with me I can live a plentiful and pleasant and merry life the Sun shines on my Tabernacle I have the Wind on my side I am on the warm side of the Hedge I prosper I flourish in the Earth all things go well with me I have but this one thing to trouble me my Soul is in the hands of the Devil there 's nothing of God in me and where God is not there the Devil bears rule This if ye knew it is misery enough for you that whatever you have God is none of yours and this is happiness enough for the Saints that God is in them of a truth 2. Our happiness is that the Lord is among us that we have the visible tokens of his presence that the Ark of his presence is among us that we have his Statutes and his Ordinances and his Worship among us that the Doors of his House are open and the Glory of the Lord filleth his House that the Ordinances are among us and are not as a miscarrying Womb or dry Breasts but are fruitful to the propagating an Holy Seed bringing forth abundance of Children to the Lord and nursing up those that are to be fat and flourishing This was that Glory of the Lord which the Psalmist so thirsts and longs to see Ps 63.2 That I might see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary This was that happiness of the Church which was prophesied Is 60.2 c. The Lord shall arise upon thee and his Glory shall be seen in thee v. 4. Thy Sons shall come from far and thy Daughters shall be nursed up at thy side then shalt thou see and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged v. 8. Who are those that flee as a Cloud and as the Doves of the Windows v. 14 15. They shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel and I will make thee an everlasting Excellency a Joy of many Generations v. 21. Thy People shall be all righteous the Branch of my Planting the Work of my Hands that I may be glorified This you will acknowledge must needs be an happy time and all this is the fruit of the presence of the Lord among his People When the Glory of the Lord fills his House and the off-springs of the Lord are numerous and prosperous when the Golden Candlesticks are set up and the Son of man walks in the midst of his Candlesticks when there are not only here and there a flourishing Believer but when there are flourishing Churches flourishing companies of Believers when there are not only a throng of People crowding the Doors of the Lords House but a throng of Saints worshipping at his Feet and walking in the Name of the Lord Happy would such days be blessed are the People that are in such a case by the presence of the Lord among them Yea and every degree towards such a State is so far forth a degree of peoples happiness when the Lord gives his Prophets and Teachers and Ordinances and any freedom to attend upon them and any little success to the propagating of holiness and the sincere Professors of it This is a Token and a Fruit of the presence of God with them 'T is a mercy for people to enjoy their civil advantages fruitful times and seasons for the good things of the Earth plenty of Bread free and flourishing Trades freedom from Oppression c. These are Mercies but these may be where the Lord is not as to his gracious Presence 't is freedom and encouragement for Religion the plentiful raining down of Manna the bread that comes from Heaven and our thriving by our Bread 't is this that evidences that the Lord is among us 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing this Presence of the Lord with us and preventing his departure where I shall shew 3 things 1. God may depart from a people with whom he hath been present 2. 'T is wo with that people from whom God departeth 3. This is to take hold of God to prevent his departure 1. God may depart from his People with whom he hath been present And that 1. From particular persons from whom he may then be said to depart 1. When he hides his Face from them 2. When he suspends the influences of his Grace 3. When he loosens the reins of Government 4. When he denies them the benefit of his protection 5. When he turns away his Heart from them and rejects them 1. When he hides his Face from them and withdraws the light of his Countenance Thus he withdrew from that precious Servant of his David Ps 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled whom we find praying Ps 4.6 Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me and Ps 51.12 Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Gods Holy Ones may forget God may grow secure and careless and wanton Children and the Lord will not countenance the best of them in their sins If they forget God he finds a way to remember them of him by conveying himself out of their sight the clouds upon his Face the darkness upon their own Spirits make them remember the light which once they had and to look the better to it when the light returns 2. When he suspends the Influence of his Grace witholds his Spirit from them This
them for their sins or if there be a rebuke that he sends sometimes in their ears as they stand in the crowd amongst other Sinners yet he will not set it upon their hearts but lets them alone to shift it off as they will and to harden their hearts against it this is a sign that the Lord is departed from such Souls O Friends how many rebukes hath the Lord given to Backsliders how many charges hath he given you to remember and repent and to shake up your selves out of your listless careless state do these rebukes stick do these charges stick do they work upon you have they set you upon your repenting or recovering work how hath it been with you what have you done since the Lord hath been particularly dealing with you in this matter Are there any of you that have done nothing but sleep on and continue as you were O Sirs let me tell such of you that 't is to be feared the Lord is departed from you that he hath loosened the reins of his Government and hath left you to your selves to grow worse and worse harder and harder till you be utterly consumed and brought to nothing 4. When he denies the benefit of his protection Here 2 things 1. The Lord is the Protector of his people 2. God then departs from them when he casts them out of his protection 1. The Lord is the Protector of his People the Keeper of Israel Ps 121.5 7. The Lord is thy Keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil the Lord shall preserve thy Soul He is not only the Keeper of their Substance of their Flocks and of their Herds and of their Houses but he preserves the Souls of his Saints Ps 97.10 'T is true every man is to be his own Keeper the Keeper of his own Soul we abuse and forfeit the protection of God that thence grow careless and neglect the keeping of our selves Commit the keeping of your Souls to him in well doing 1 Pet. 4.19 Dost thou say the Lord is thee Keeper of my Soul and I will leave it to him and will not trust in my self in mine own keeping Thou sayst well that thou wilt not trust thy Soul in thy own keeping but dost thou hereupon neglect the keeping of thy Soul wilt thou not do what thou canst to keep thy self but wilt grow careless of thine own heart and leave the whole care upon him thou herein forfeitest Gods protection The same word that promises the Lord shall preserve thy Soul requires Prov. 4.23 keep thine own Soul Keep thine heart with all diligence We must be every one of us our own keepers or God will not but here is our great security when we have done all that it is the Lord that is our Keeper The Devil could tell that well enough Job 1.10 Hast thou not made an hedge about Job He would fain have been doing with him but God had hedg'd the Devil so out that he could not touch him without his leave And he that hedg'd the Devil out from Job hedges him out from all his Saints and he that hedges the Devil out hedges the World out with all its temptations and snares Christians you whose hearts are upright with God how is it that the world and its temptations are not broken in upon you and have not totally carried you away from God and his Holy ways and carried you after your covetousness or your pleasures or the honours and preferments of this Earth as it hath done many others O you may thank God for this he hath hedgd the World out 'T were well with many even Professors if they could find in their experiences as you do find in yours that God had hedg'd the World out of them But O how many of these even Professors are there that the World hath broken in upon them broken in upon their hearts and carried them away after it Do not some of you feel that your hearts are gone gone after your covetousness gone after your ease and your pleasures gone from God gone from your Religion as to the strictness and power of it gone from a good conscience and your tenderness of it gone from your heavenly minds and so you are become of those that mind earthly things Sure some of you do not know your selves do not observe your selves nor are acquainted with your own Spirits if you do not acknowledge Lord be merciful to me mine heart is far gone my conscience my tenderness my religion my love to Christ is much lost by the incroachment of this present World Is it so and how does it sit upon your hearts does it not trouble you does it not make you afraid sure you have reason to be afraid and to say within your hearts I doubt I am none of those Saints of whom God hath undertaken to be the Keeper or at least if God had ever an hedge about me the hedge is broken down the tempter is broken in and is carrying away all that little good I had and will never leave carrying and carrying till he hath carried away my Soul God hath made an hedge about his Saints not to hedge all temptations out he sometimes suffers the devil the world as he did in the case af Job to break over the Hedge He lets his Precious Ones to fall into divers temptations but still they are under the protection of his Promise 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape Christians may be hard put to it may suffer many a foyl we too often feel the Devil is too hard for us the World too hard for us and we suffer great losses and impairings in our grace and comfort But the promise will bring us about again fetch us in again knock off our fingers from being so bold with these earthly things Indeed we can never have assurance that we are under the protection of that Promise but are left without the hedge and are none of the Lords whilst the world and its temptations do continue to make such a prey of our Souls and hold us such Slaves and Captives to it but if we be the Lords the Promise will bring it about again This is the first God is the Protector of his People 2. Then God departs from them when he casts them out of his protection when he says concerning any person as he said concerning his Vineyard Is 5.5 6. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down and I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged but bryars and thorns shall come up I will also command the Clouds that they rain no rain upon it 'T is one thing for the tempter to be suffered to break in over the Hedge another
remember O Lord what hath passed betwixt thee and us thou hast said I will be your God and ye shall be my People And this we find more expresly pleaded Jer. 14.7 8. We have them expostulating the case O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us our backslidings are many we have sinned against thee O thou hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in time of trouble why shouldst thou be a Stranger The Lord might have answered Why should I not be a Stranger when your Sins and your Backslidings are so many They reply v. 21. Yet do not abhor us for thy names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy Glory What would the Heathen say of God if he should cast off his People Remember break not thy Covenant with us 't is true we have broken with thee but yet remember what thou hast said Ps 89.31 32 c. If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments I will visit their Iniquities with a Rod and their Sin with Stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips O that 's a word of hope Remember Lord remember and break not thy Covenant with us Our only hope is the Covenant of God and this is necessary to our laying hold on the Covenant of God To repent of our Covenant-breaking and to renew our Covenant with him and return to our obedience 'T is a vain pleading from the Covenant of God from the Faithfulness of God to his people if they have been false in the Covenant and will not return our engaging to fidelity to God for the future and our being faithful to our engagement this is the surest and our only way to take hold on the Covenant of God Friends you that are backsliders you have been unfaithful to God you have broken the Covenant of your Peace and as to your selves you have hereby taken the most effectual course to make void the Covenant of God you have loosened the Almighty from his bond to you God is far from you as I may so speak and may never look after you more but may depart from you for ever and leave you to perish in your revoltings And though God be gracious and abideth faithful yet unless you will come into new bonds with him and so lay hold on his old bond to you you can expect nothing but that he leave you and forsake you for ever This therefore you have to do for recovery 1. To acknowledge your unfaithfulness to the Lord Lord I confess I am a Backslider and herein am become false to thee I have covenanted to love thee and to serve thee with all mine heart and with all my might but wo is me thou hast but half an heart from me mine heart is divided O how much of it hath this World carried away from God instead of Serving thee with my might I have been an idle Servant the Lord forgive me my business hath of late lyen another way than about God or my Soul I have been serving my Pride and my Covetousness this world hath too much of me insomuch that many a time I have even forgotten that I have a God to serve and when I do any thing in the service of God I do it but by halfs my strength hath gone out for the world and wo is me there hath been but little left for God but my weakness and weariness yea and though I find the sad fruit of this my neglect in those wasts that are grown upon me though I see my self become a poor withered decayed thing yet I am not much troubled at it but am still going on in the same busie life for this Earth and in the same neglect of God O I have been thus unfaithful an unfaithful Servant an unfaithful Steward of the manifold Graces of God I have so wasted my Talents that I have almost nothing left Thus confess unto God your Covenant breakings 2. Renew your Covenant and return to your Fidelity To repent and not return is but a mock repentance to confess and not amend is but a mock confession Remember that word Jer. 15.19 If thou wilt return I will bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me You that confess your backslidings will you return you see how it hath been and is with you shall it be better for the future what are your minds for hence forward are your hearts so set upon a reviving the work of God and a recovering out of your carnal earthly lazy habit and way that you are willing to renew your Covenant with God will you promise to the Lord that through his Grace with you and the help of his good Spirit you will henceforth set your hearts to be more faithful to him to follow the Lord fully to stick faster to your Religion to be true to God and your Conscience and the Covenant of your God will you so Friends will you O that there were such an heart in you all This do and then though you be gone back from him yet he will bring you again Though you be fallen so low yet he will raise you up and you shall stand before him 3. Then trust upon the Covenant of God return to be faithful to him and he will not leave you nor cast you off for your former unfaithfulness trust upon it This is your way to take hold of the Covenant of God and your taking hold of the Covenant will be your taking hold of God Friends after such forsakings and such declinings as many of us are guilty of there 's reason enough to be afraid lest the Lord casts off such Unfaithful Ones and there 's no hope but he will do so if you thus return not he will be lost to you for ever he will go farther and farther off from you he will be gracious to you no more nor accept you nor any of your service of none of your prayers for your selves no nor of the prayers of any others for you but will say concerning you as once Jer. 14.11 12. Pray not for this people for their good and when they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer an Oblation I will not accept them Pray while you will speak to Ministers if you will and to Christians Pray to the Lord for me he will not accept your Prayers nor any others Prayers for you unless you will set your hearts to return into faithfulness to him Friends I tell you again you that are in this case and either will not see it nor confess your unfaithfulness to God but will satisfie your selves in your way and think you are well enough or at least will excuse your selves and say your case is made worse than it is or if you do confess it I was a Backslider I have been unfaithful yet will not renew your Covenant
taken to give you the Symptoms or Signs by which you may know it their backslidings are so visible that they are manifest even to every eye The paleness of some of our faces the shortness of our breath the wasting of our strength the unwildiness and inability to labour and the listlesness thereto discovers how 't is with us O what weak and listless souls are some of us our flesh and our bodies strong and healthful but how weak are our hearts how short breath'd quickly tired with every little of duty and how pale and wan doth our outward man appear our very Vitals are perished and gone Friend thou hopest thou keepest thy stand but is it indeed with thee as it was wont to be Dost thou pray and hear and live and love and labour in the matters of God and of thy Soul as in thy former days Open thine eyes and look a little upon thy self compare thy self now with what thou wast in thy best estate and then thou wilt say of thy self as God of Ephraim Hos 7.9 Gray hairs are upon me though I knew it not 'T is conspicuous man to every one that observes thee thy Religion thy conscience and all that Grace that is in thee 't is all grown gray Gray hairs are upon thee though thou mindest it not What say you Christians are you all fresh and flourishing Are you strong Christians lively Christians Do your Souls prosper doth your Religion prosper or must you not say I remember the days of Old when it was better with me than now such who are so far gone whose decay is so visible though their recovery be possible yet they are hard to be recovered 3. A third degree is not to be hid and past cure plain to be discovered never to be cured and then the Consumption of souls is ordinarily past cure when men are past feeling It is one thing to be without feeling in those that never had any sense of God upon them and another to be past feeling in those that once had some tenderness of heart Those that have been chilling and cooling and hardning so long till God gives them over to that reprobate sense mentioned Rom. 1.28 the case of such men is become desperate Now you that are fallen into this consuming Disease consider these things how difficult your case is unless it be but in the very beginning and how it will be growing on to be harder and harder if yet you prevent it not with speed till it becomes desperate Consider this and then say if it be not time to look about you and to make hastily out to the Physician for cure Friends take heed will you yet linger on as you have done will you be quiet take your ease and take no effectual care to recover the health you have lost the strength you have lost Tremble to think how suddenly you may be given up to a total and final Apostasie But why is the cure so difficult I answer 1. Because as it hath been said in the beginning it 's so hard to be discerned Who will look after a cure that thinks he ails nothing This Consumption invades and creeps on by such insensible degrees that it is not perceived or minded till it grows up to such an height as will scarce admit of a cure This Consumption fretteth out the Heart as a Moth fretteth a Garment When the Moth first breeds there it lies undiscovered till by insensible degrees it eats up the strength of the Garment If the Moth seized upon any Garment as fire doth you would shake it off suddenly but because it consumes but insensibly and by slower degrees therefore it 's let alone till it hath done its work Friends is there not a Consumption upon you is not the Moth gotten in I hope not into my Soul Why there 's the misery of it you will not know you consume till ye be utterly consumed 2. From the indisposition and unwillingness of the Heart to seek after a cure Such untowardness and inindisposition there is to this work that I am afraid that by all that I can say I shall not be able to prevail with some of you to make tryal what may be done May be you acknowledge that we have all need enough of this warning but I am in much doubt that when you have heard all your hearts will so hang back from the work that all that can be said will quickly be forgotten and never effectually stir you If you would take the warning and stir up your hearts and set to the work there I hope you might be recovered but I tell you again espâ—cially those that are far gone that I fear your unwilling and untoward hearts will be too hard for the word and will not let you come on to any purpose Consider what I say and remember it a day or two hence and see if it be not with too many of you according to my fears and tell me then if you can I thank the Lord the word hath prevailed and I have set mine heart to it and through the Grace of God will not give over till I may see it effectually work to my recovery 3. From that opposition that is made against our recovery 1. There is a stirring Devil that opposeth it 2. There are stirring lusts that oppose our recovery 1. There is a stirring Devil that opposes your recovery The Devil is a destroyer that 's his name Rev. 9.11 Abaddon Apollyon that is a Destroyer 't is he that hath brought you into this case that hath destroyed that little Grace you had and is thereby attempting to destroy your Souls When you see what wasts have been made upon you upon your consciences upon your comforts 't is the Devil that hath made these wasts he is that Fox that hath devoured your Grapes The Devil is an adversary and a busie adversary 1 Pet. 5.8 walking up and down seeking to do you a mischief 't is he that hath brought you down to this low pass in which you are and he that hath brought you down will do all he can to hinder you from ever rising again The Devil is with you wheresoever you are he watches you where ever you go if you go into your Closets go to pray for recovery the Devil watches you there and does what he can to distract and hinder your prayers When you come to hear the Devil watches you in the Congregation and strives to catch away every word that might do you good All these words which I am speaking to you for your recovery I am in doubt they may have but little success if the Devil can help it there shall none of them stick upon your hearts He that hath brought you so low will be busie with you to hold you so low resisting and stealing away whatever word might help you up What 's become of all the words that have been hitherto spoken to this purpose do they abide upon you have they wrought